Service Learning

Birmingham-Southern's service-learning program encourages students
to grow personally and spiritually in service to others. . Each Exploration Term offers one or more faculty-led service-projects as well as multiple independently designed projects. Previous projects include Methodist missions in Old Mutare, Zimbabwe, Africa,
as well as those in Cochabamba, Bolivia, Calcutta, India, and Juiz
de Fora, Brazil. On a recent trip to San Pedro Sulas, Honduras, Birmingham-Southern
students worked with children of a local orphanage, visited Episcopal
medical clinics near the diocesan camp, toured Spanish and Mayan
ruins, and visited Roatan Island, the largest barrier reef in the
Northern Hemisphere. Local service-learning opportunities are also offered.

Students attend weekly meetings of intense orientation during the
fall term. They research topics related to the host country, its
people, culture, and religion, and engage in training and team-building
exercises. Evaluation is based on participation in the orientation
sessions, a pre-trip presentation on some aspect of the host civilization,
and on-site performance.